Appcelerator enables iPhone, Android app dev

Web developers can tackle Apple iPhone and Google Android application-building on a development single platform with the pending release of the open source Appcelerator Titanium platform.

Titanium supports development for mobile, desktop, and Web applications, The same application built for one platform can run on the others. A preview release from late last year covered development of only Web and desktop applications while a beta release Monday adds mobile development capabilities for iPhone and Android.

Available in under the Apache Public License v2, the beta release enables developers to use skills in JavaScript, HTML and CSS to build native applications without having to know Objective-C or Java, Appcelerator said. General availability of Titanium is planned for later this summer.

"Consumers are devouring mobile applications as fast as developers can create them, but the real mobile tidal wave will hit when millions of Web developers are able to write mobile applications without having to learn a new programming language," said Jeff Haynie, CEO of Appcelerator, in a statement released by the company.

Applications developed on Titanium perform as native applications with native UI components, code compilation, and access to a device's storage, multimedia, input, and geo-location APIs. Other development technologies supported by Titanium include Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and third-party AJAX libraries for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Android, and iPhone.

Applications built on Titanium can be tested and distributed through the Appcelerator Network, featuring cloud-based services for commercializing Titanium applications. While Titanium will remain free of charge, Appcelerator plans to monetize the product by offering cloud-based analytical and testing capabilities.

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